540 THE FOREST AND THE FIELD. 



suspicion was aroused, I lay motionless and 

 watched their proceedings, for under the cir- 

 cumstances I knew it was impossible to get 

 nearer. At last I distinguished a buck, from his 

 horns being thicker and his coat somewhat darker 

 than the others ; and, arranging my sight, I 

 brought the fine bead of the fore-sight against 

 his shoulder, as he was staring at the very bush 

 behind which I lay, as if he knew from the taint 

 in the air that danger lurked there. I pulled 

 trigger, and with a bound in the air he fell down 

 dead. With a shrill whistle the rest bounded 

 away, but, without showing myself, I slipped 

 another cartridge into my rifle, and by a lucky 

 shot rolled over a doe with a bullet through the 

 neck, as from sheer curiosity she stopped a second 

 as if inquisitive to know what intruder had 

 disturbed their mountain solitudes. Karl was 

 thunderstruck at the performance of my rifle, for 

 he had never seen game killed at such distances, 

 and he had no idea of the range of a Whitworth 

 small bore and the quickness of loading of a 



